The Park Bench | 
pick#2019Book35
This graphic novel reads like an incredibly sweet Pixar short. Told entirely through pictures, it tells the story of a park bench that experiences pretty much the same events day after day, a silent observer. Despite the lack of dialogue or narration, the various story lines are easy to follow and more than one is a little heartbreaking.
And with the tagged book I've finally, actually, really completed a reading challenge for the first time. Note to self for 2019: Don't procrastinate on the graphic novels, they will sneak up on you and be hard to find at the library 😂
#readharder
Goodreads 5-star reads in June (from the top, left to right): Order of Time (audio); Half a Yellow Sun (audio); Wife‘s Tale; Funeral; Good Night, Planet; Big Book of Knitted Mittens; Park Bench; Mean; Crawl Space; Only Human (audio); Girls Burn Brighter (audio); Motherhood. What a great month!
pickCrisp black-and-white art uses a physical object—a park bench—to anchor a story of urban life as it‘s lived in public and across decades. Warm, funny, poignant, nearly wordless and absolutely awesome. #translation #graphicnovel
Recurring characters in this graphic novel include an elderly couple who regularly split one bakery dessert between them. ❤️
I had heard that this was a wordless graphic novel, so it seemed weird that it had to be translated from French before being published in North America. Now I understand. Graffiti, book titles, newspaper headlines & even tshirt slogans are part of the story, even if they only play a minor part. The page above might be wordiest in the whole book.
pick2018 // 012 | Park Bench - Christophe Chabouté | 2012 | 336pp
This entire graphic novel, all 336 pages of it, is about a park bench. There is no plot, no dialogue, just the bench. And it was delightful! It showed the ways, big and small, that this unassuming park bench affected the lives of a great many people. It‘s simple but hugely effective. Big thumbs up.
pickWhat is a park bench? A respite, a moment, a pause, a shelter, a refuge, a scene, a society or it is just a little wood and steel?
It is no words graphic novel, very quick read, put as always Chaboute makes sure to covey a powerful message through a short graphic story.
❤️🎈
pickLoved this black-and-white graphic novel of life as seen by a park bench. No words, but a story nonetheless. @simonbooks
pickWho knew that a wordless graphic novel about a park bench was going to break my heart and, almost immediately, uplift it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
pickA 300 page wordless graphic novel about a park bench sounds like it could totally be a snore. But, this was wonderful! You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll never look at a park bench the same way again.
